06 January 2009

Two of my life-long favorite musicians -- Weezer and Beck -- released new albums this year, but I didn't buy either one. In fact, other than one or two Weezer songs that I stumbled upon, I didn't even take the time to look them up on the Internet. For Christmas, my wife surprised me with Jon Foreman's solo-effort best-of, Limbs and Branches, but I just didn't buy hardly any music this year.

I listened to David Crowder Band's Remedy and Jeremy Riddle's Full Attention a lot during 2008, but both were released in 2007. I also found myself gravitating to a lot of old Sufjan Stevens, in lieu of any new material from him in 2008. Dare I say it, but I honestly had to scrounge around my MP3 files to even find songs to post here. But don't click away from this page just yet...upon further review, these songs definitely deserve a listen.

As always, follow the link to the MP3 and grab them quick because the links expire in 7 days.

Alias . CrosswalksThis track is epic! Layer after layer of sound. And just full of everything I love about a really good song.

The Ting Tings . Keep Your HeadYou know them from the Apple® commercial, but their entire album is chock full of quality indie-pop, with this song barely squeezing out Be The One as my favorite.

TV On The Radio . Halfway HomeThis song tells of a journey, the destination of which is somewhere different for every ear that hears.

Jon Foreman . Your Love Is Strong"[S]ongs have become my way of finding beauty in the midst of chaos and the pain. It’s a way of finding redemption for mistakes and regrets that I have." Jon definitely tapped into the beauty of life on this one...bask in it.

Mount Eerie, Julie Doiron & Fred Squire . You Swan, Go OnShort...but sweet. And that's really all I have to say about this little gem.

Lykke Li . Dance Dance DanceUp and coming artist whose music Stereogum describes as a mix of soul, electro and "powdered-sugar pop." That works for me, I guess. I just call it "intelligent pop."

Regina Spektor . The CallThis song kinda got buried in a movie sequel that didn't exactly live up to its predecessor. Regardless, it touches a spot deep within and Regina elicits emotion with her soft voice that few can match.